Three more states have become party to the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention scheduled to enter into force on September 8, 2017. The Bahamas deposited its instrument of accession with the IMO on June 8 following accessions by Singapore on the same
Container carriers Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and Evergreen Line, members of the newly formed OCEAN Alliance, have suspended services to Qatar after a number of Arab countries cut diplomatic and trading ties with this Middle Eastern country. Namely, due to the diplomatic crisis, Saudi Ara
A new global union alliance formed of unions based in DP World terminals is looking to improve standards in health and safety, automation and contract labour. According to International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the ITF DP World global union alliance is setting out its first series of obj
The UN has urged governments to implement tighter marine pollution controls or risk further degradation of the oceans, fish stocks and ecosystems. Countries are being asked to support a ‘zero draft’ Call To Action at the 2017 UN Ocean Conference in New York that calls for an acceleration of “actions
Danish shipping major Maersk Line has closed bookings for cargo that transship over Jebel Ali to or from Qatar for the time being. The move was triggered by the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Qatar and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, that banned ships in their
Although the diplomatic crisis in Qatar would have little impact on the wider oil market, the situation could disrupt Qatari crude and refined product exports. The crisis has upended shipping markets as tightened port restrictions are expected to cause logistical complications, according to Ocean Fr
Medium ranged product tankers (MRs) are definitely the workhorses of the product tanker shipping industry, being the most widely used vessels that can call at any port in the world including smaller and shallower ports, it was concluded during a webinar organized by Capital Link Shipping on June 1.
After a number of Arab countries cut diplomatic and trading ties with Qatar, all vessel traffic from and to the country was suspended by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. Namely, relevant authorities informed that all Bahrain ports and territorial waters, as well as all Abu
UAE’s port of Fujairah has barred the calls of Qatari-flagged ships in addition to any ships destined for or arriving from Qatari ports, Reuters reports citing a notice from the port. The ban is valid for all ships regardless of the nature of their call and will be en force until further notice, acc
The very large crude carrier (VLCC) market could experience a downturn, which is likely to accelerate in the short term, on the back of OPEC’s extension of production cuts. OPEC and a number of non-OPEC producers earlier informed of their decision to extend production cuts to March 2018. Cutbacks la
The decision of the President Donald Trump on US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement exerts further pressure on all major industrial sectors to deliver their fair share of carbon cuts, including shipping, according to NGOs focusing on environmental issues in the maritime sector. Commenting on the de
The completion of the merger between Germany’s container carrier Hapag-Lloyd with UAE-based counterpart UASC will result in cutting of up to 12 percent of its almost 11,000 land-based workforce, the company’s spokesperson confirmed to World Maritime News. Nevertheless, the downsizing of workforce wo
Image Courtesy: Sohar Drydock Company Oman Drydock Company (ODC) has welcomed Sohar Max – the largest vessel to enter the facility since it opened in 2011 – for a specialist dry docking project. The 400,000 dwt iron ore carrier, which features a length of 360 meters and a width of 65 meters, is curr
Driven by strong volume growth recorded across key container ports in the first quarter of 2017, the full year global port throughput growth was revised to 4.6%, compared to earlier projections of only 2%-3%. Based on Alphaliner’s survey of over 150 ports around the world, global container port thro
